2000
#133,114
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Arau
A place name from the Basque regions of Spain.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 133 Americans carry the last name Arau. That puts it at #145,028 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,577,100 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Arau surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
133
1 in 2,577,100
Census rank
#145,028
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
116
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 116 bearers of the surname Arau in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 145028th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Arau, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (44.0%) and Black (6.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Arau
The surname ARAU originated in the Basque region of northern Spain and southern France. It is believed to be derived from the Basque word "arau," which means "rule" or "law." The name first appeared in written records during the early medieval period, around the 8th to 10th centuries.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Fortun Arau, a Basque nobleman who lived in the 9th century and was mentioned in chronicles from the Kingdom of Navarre. Another early record is found in a 10th-century cartulary from the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, which listed a landowner named Sancho Arau.
The name was particularly prevalent in the region of Guipúzcoa, where it is thought to have originated from a place name or a descriptive nickname related to the concept of law or authority. Several villages and hamlets in the area had variations of the name, such as Arauz, Arauzo, and Arauzo de Torre.
In the 12th century, during the height of the Reconquista, a knight named Pedro Arau is recorded as participating in the siege of Seville alongside King Ferdinand III of Castile. His descendant, Martín Arau, was a prominent figure in the court of Alfonso X the Wise in the 13th century and is mentioned in several royal charters.
As the Basque people migrated and dispersed over the centuries, the surname ARAU spread to other parts of Spain, as well as to the Americas during the colonial period. Notable bearers of the name include Juan de Arau, a 16th-century explorer and navigator who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico, and Catalina Arau, a 17th-century writer and poet from Seville.
In more recent history, the ARAU surname has been carried by individuals such as Alfonso Arau, a Mexican film director and actor born in 1932, and Emmanuelle Arau, a French actress born in 1968. The name has also been found in various forms, such as Araux and Arauz, among families of Basque descent in countries like France, Argentina, and the United States.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arau
Among Census respondents with the surname Arau, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (44.0%) and Black (6.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Arau bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Arau surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino44.8% · 52
- White44.0% · 51
- Black or African American6.9% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 3
- Two or more races1.7% · 2
Timeline
Historical Census data for Arau
Arau appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#145,220
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 114
-3 bearers (-2.6%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 12,106 places
2020
#145,028
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 116
+2 bearers (+1.8%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Up 192 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #133,114 | 117 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #145,220 | 114 | 0.04 | -3 bearers (-2.6%) | Down 12,106 places |
| 2020 | #145,028 | 116 | 0.04 | +2 bearers (+1.8%) | Up 192 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Arau surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #145,220 | #145,028 | 0.1% |
| Count | 114 | 116 | 1.8% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -3.0% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Arau bearers went from 114 to 116 (+1.8% change). The surname moved up 192 positions in the national ranking, going from #145,220 to #145,028.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Arau
FAQ
Arau surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Arau?
Name Census estimates that about 133 living Americans carry the surname Arau. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,577,100 residents.
How common is Arau?
Arau ranks #145,028 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 116 people with the surname Arau. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (133), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Arau.
Has Arau become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Arau went from 114 recorded bearers to 116. That is an increase of 2 (+1.8%). In the national ranking it rose from #145,220 to #145,028.
What does the Census say about the background of Arau?
Among Census respondents with the surname Arau, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (44.0%) and Black (6.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Hispanic is the largest self-reported group for the surname Arau in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (52 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Arau appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Hispanic (44.8%), White (44.0%), Black (6.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Arau (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Arau mean?
A place name from the Basque regions of Spain. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Arau (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people are called Arau?
See how many Americans have the surname Arau on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.